Compliance Monitoring

Schools, districts, and county offices that receive funding for certain programs may be chosen for a review by the state. The purpose of the review is to ensure that they are spending the funding as required by law. Reviews may take place in person and/or through an online process.

At the end of each review, the state will complete a report of findings informs the school, district, or county office how to correct the findings.

The California Department of Education works to provide a simplified and streamlined monitoring through this process.

General Information

Federal and state laws require the California Department of Education (CDE) to monitor implementation of categorical programs operated by local educational agencies (LEAs). LEAs are responsible for creating and maintaining programs which meet requirements.

LEAs are monitored to ensure that they meet fiscal and program requirements of federal categorical programs and mandated areas of state responsibility and funding in Economic Impact Aid—Limited English Proficient and State Compensatory Education (EIA-LEP and EIA-SCE), Physical Education, and Educational Equity.

The Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) Office coordinates reviews through a combination of data and document review and on-site visits. LEAs are assigned to one of four cycles: A, B, C, or D. Each year, CDE analyzes extensive data for all LEAs which receive categorical funds in two of the four cycles. LEAs may be selected for an on-site or online monitoring every two years. The Cycle Schedule by School Year demonstrates the distribution of the cycles for a four year period.

Several factors, including compliance history, academic achievement, program size, and fiscal analysis are considered in identifying LEAs for reviews. Using this established selection criteria, approximately 60 LEAs and sites are selected for on-site or online monitoring. Several LEAs are also randomly selected each year for monitoring.

FPM Regional Team Leaders (RTLs) coordinate teams of select program monitors to conduct on-site or online monitoring of the LEA using the Program Instruments.

Cycle C LEAs are invited to participate in a Web-based survey related to the FPM process and CAIS. LEA feedback is essential to our on-going efforts to serve the LEA before, during, and after the monitoring process.

The survey has 14 questions and should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. The survey will be open from May 19 to June 30, 2015.

Reviews

LEAs Selected for Reviews

This is the list of LEAs by county-district-school code selected for an on-site or online review. Information regarding the scheduling of the review and program information is available under the Review Schedules sub-header.

2014-15 School Year

LEA General Information Request

CDE requires each LEA that will receive a Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) visit to provide LEA General Information. Please complete by March 20, 2015, this LEA General Information Request, which allows the CDE to consider local factors associated with the LEA when scheduling the FPM review.

Review Schedules

The Review Schedules include detailed information regarding FPM reviews. These schedules are organized by region and list the LEA name, Regional Team Leader, review dates, sites selected for review, and the programs participating in each review. These schedules are updated at the end of each month.

2014-15 School Year

Resolution of Findings

Within 45 calendar days after the date of the Notification of Findings (NOF), the LEA must resolve each finding by uploading resolution documents to the California Accountability and Improvement System (CAIS) and selecting the certification box. The LEA may use the resolution process in CAIS to request a Resolution Agreement to extend the resolution period beyond the due date on the NOF. CDE Program Reviewers approve or deny Resolution Agreement requests.

The Resolution Agreement period should allow for reasonable time to resolve findings but cannot exceed 225 calendar days from the last day of the review.

Program Instruments

The FPM Instrument for each categorical program contains federal and state legal requirements organized into statutory core items and supporting items arranged under seven general CDE dimensions. FPM team members use Program Instruments to determine whether an LEA is meeting requirements of each item.

Program Instruments are developed and reviewed by the CDE on an annual basis and may change from year to year to respond to changes in federal or state law, regulations, or court cases.

Current Year Program Instruments

2015-16 Program Instruments
This page provides links to the 2015-16 Program Instruments for the fourteen programs participating in FPM reviews.

2014-15 Program Instruments
This page provides links to the 2014-15 Program Instruments for the fourteen programs participating in FPM reviews.

Prior Year Program Instruments

California Monitoring Tool (CMT)

The California Monitoring Tool (CMT) a new Web-based tool, developed by the California Department of Education (CDE) which allows the monitoring of local educational agencies (LEAs) to ensure that they meet fiscal and program requirements of federal categorical programs and State funding they receive.

CAIS was designed to enhance and streamline the Federal Program Monitoring (FPM) process by providing tools for storage and retrieval of LEA documents as well as electronic communication specific to compliance monitoring. Through an exclusive use and exchange of information between the CDE and LEAs, CAIS provides an opportunity for effective monitoring and targeted technical assistance.

Access to CAIS is limited to appropriate use managed by the CAIS support team. LEAs may request access, training, and assistance in using CAIS by e-mailing the FPM Office at fpmoffice@cde.ca.gov.

For additional information regarding the California Department of Education’s use of CAIS, please visit the CAIS Web page.